Erta Ale volcano is a large basaltic shield volcano in the Erta Ale volcanic range in the central northern Danakil depression (NE Ethiopia).
It is famed for its persistent lava lake which has been active during most of the past decades since it was first discovered in the 1960s.
Erta Ale is only 613 m high, but as typical for a shield volcano has a very gentle slopes and a large 40 km diameter base. The summit is truncated by a complex, elongated 1700 x 600 m wide caldera which contains vast lava flows and several larger and smaller pit craters, most notably the active north and south crater, which contains the lava lake at present.
Erta Ale is one of the main attractions of the Danakil, and had became a popular tour destination in recent years. Unfortunately, the deadly attack on 4 January 2012 against tourists and scientists camped on the crater rim, in which several were killed, illustrates that the area is politically unstable and can be subject to terrorist attacks. Anyone visiting the volcano should be aware of this.

Erta Ale (Ethiopia) volcano news:

Significant changes have occured recently at Erta Ale volcano, the lava lake having filled up the south crater and overflowed repeatedly into the N and NW section of the caldera floor adjacient to the crater.
During our latest expedition, we stayed on Erta Ale from early 25 Nov - 28 Nov. Upon our arrival, those changes very obvious. The lava lake had risen to the level of the former lower N section, the old terrace was gone, and the whole south crater was filled by overflows to the level of the lower old N-NW rim. Flows had indeed overflowed that section of the old crater circumference on a length of about 150m, or about 1 third of the old circumference. The still hot overflows had covered the outside caldera floor to about 50-100 distance, and one long flow, probably dated from 24 Nov (judging from its temperature) had almost reached the W caldera walls, as it followed the descending floor of the caldera in that direction.
The still active lake itself was circular, about 40 m in diameter (about 2 thirds to half its size observed in 2008 and 2009), contained within a low ring-shaped wall and extremely active. Degassing fountains kept the whole surface violently boiling most of the time.
At rythms of around 30 minutes, the lava level was rising and falling by ca. 2-4 meters. Fountaining often projected incandescent spatter to 30-70 m vertical height. During the 3 days observation, several more intense phases were observed, when the lava overflowed about 12 times and fed new flows emplacing themselves on top of the young flows already outside the former crater. The morphology of the ring wall constantly changed as more and more lava flowed outside, parts collapsing and rebuilding by fountaining activity. The overall average level rose an estimated 3-5 meters during this time and the lava lake looked like a small shield volcano of its own occupying the old south crater.
The deeper north crater had not changed too much since our last visit. In its center, a large hornito with a glowing vent was observed to sometimes spatter lava. In one occasion, an extremely bright glow from the N crater became visible. When we arrived, we saw a large fresh flow that had surged out from the hornito and covered most of the crater floor, but we were unable to observe repeated events like this.
Photos from the activity will be posted soon on our website.

Vorherige Nachrichten

Scientists have observed that the lava lake at Erta Ale had some Strombolian activity in the southern pit crater during 20-23 November 2010. They have seen that the lava lake had filled the the pit crater and that lava flew also into the main crater.There was a little 4 m high scoria ring at the vent. ... [mehr]

The new fissure eruption in the Danakil near Erta Ale earlier this month, on 14-15 August, is reported to have killed five people, hundreds of camels and and drove more than 2 000 people from their homes. According to Ethiopian news sources, the "eruption also opened a 10km crack in the ground and spewed lava 300m in the air." ... [mehr]

The Ethiopian News Agency report a possible new flank eruption from Erta Ale volcano in the Danakil desert. Ethiopian News Agency. According to the agency, two people are reported missing and several hundreds of villagers were forced to flee from their area by a lava flow. ... [mehr]

Ijen volcano photos: Ijen volcano in East Java is famous for its turquoise acid crater lake and the large sulfur deposits that are being mined by local workers. At night, the scene is illuminated by ghostly blue flames, as sulfur ignites.

Volcano Special Tours: We organize tours to particularly active volcanoes and during ongoing eruptions for extended observation time from various viewpoints. These trips, exclusively for very small groups, are often announced only at short notice and require fast travel and flexibility. Each trip is accompanied by a volcanologist from our team. Examples include: Kilauea (Hawai'i), Colima (Mexico), Krakatau and many others.